Fundamentals of designing reference panels of sera for effective contr
ol of commercial test systems and immunoblotting, intended for detecti
ng antiviral antibodies, have been developed. Reference low-titer pane
ls of anti-IgG antibodies to HIV-a and hepatitis C virus have been des
igned. A reference panel contains diluted reactive sera with a standar
d level of IgG antibodies and native sera with undetectable level of a
ntibodies to the major viral antigens from risk-group subjects. The re
active sera of a panel contain the whole spectrum of antibodies to all
principal viral antigens.